Baltimore City Hits Milestone, 10 Days Without Murder

The effort to reduce violent crime in Baltimore City has hit a milestone. It has been 10 days without a murder.

Determined to eliminate the high number of homicides and other serious crimes in Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has praised her violence reduction initiative. But, she said, others also share in the success of 10 days without a murder in the city.

"I'm just losing my mind with excitement about the hard work so many have been doing for years. We're reaping the benefits. We're putting a dent in something as huge as a murder epidemic," said Erricka Bridgeford, of Baltimore Ceasefire.

The mayor said homicides are down 30 percent and nonfatal shootings down 40 percent. City police hope the trends continue.

"It's progress in the right direction. Over the last 10 days, we haven't had to go to a new family and tell them their loved one isn't coming home because of a murder," said Baltimore Police Department spokesman T.J. Smith.

The last time Baltimore had a 10-day span with no homicides was in March 2014, and before that, October 2013.

"No one is running out a banner saying, 'We've solved the problem and everything is great.' Of course, there is still work to do," Smith said.

Bridgeford said that the city still needs to find ways of healing the root causes of violence and the trauma caused by violence.

"We can't leave behind people we call repeat offenders or shooters. We have to say, 'We love you. We're not leaving you anywhere. We are coming for you too, because you are us and so we're going to heal this together,' because that's the only way it can be done," Bridgeford said.

Pugh said she will explain more on Wednesday about how the violence reduction initiative is working.